Google-acquired Bump to shut down Bump and Flock sharing apps on 31 January

Bump has announced that it will be discontinued at the end of the month, meaning both the Bump and Flock apps will no longer be available on Apple's App Store or Google Play.

David Lieb, Bump's CEO and co-founder, revealed the news via Bump's blog: "We are now deeply focused on our new projects within Google, and we’ve decided to discontinue Bump and Flock," Lieb said. "On January 31, 2014, Bump and Flock will be removed from the App Store and Google Play. After this date, neither app will work, and all user data will be deleted," he wrote.

Google acquired mobile app start-up Bump in September. Lieb said Bump and Flock would continue to work for the time being, but he warned users to "stay tuned for future updates". While neither Bump nor Google explained how Bump could enhance Google products, it was clear that both companies were interested in simple tools for sharing information with other people and devices.

Bump enabled users to share contact information, photos, videos, apps, and files simply by bumping two phones together. Users just had to open the Bump app on two handsets, then gently tap them together, and Bump would auto-transfer any designated files.

The Bump team also developed an app called Flock. It worked something like this: after a user snapped a photo with a camera app, Flock would filter out strangers in the images, then create a shared album for friends in the images, and bring all the photos together in that album for sharing.

If you'd like to retain any of your data - such as photos, videos, contacts - within the Bump or Flock apps, you'll have the next 30 days to do so. Lieb said you could open either app and follow the instructions for exporting data. You’ll receive an email with a link to download all of your data.